ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey on Thursday said that Interpol issued red notices for 20 suspects in connection to the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year.

Turkey's justice ministry said that it had requested a red notice for 18 accused on November 15, 2018, and two others on December 21, 2018.

It informed that the General Secretariat of Interpol issued the red notice on March 1, 2019, after Turkey's request was accepted, Anadolu News Agency reported.

A manhunt has been initiated to search for the 20 suspects across the world.

Earlier Thursday, Saudi Arabia rejected calls for an international and independent investigation into Khashoggi's killing, arguing that it was well equipped to bring the perpetrators to justice, according to reports.

Khashoggi, a vocal critic of the Saudi regime, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 last year, where he had gone to obtain paperwork certifying his divorce with his former wife Alaa Nassif in order to be able to re-marry his Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz.

After presenting several contradictory theories, Saudi Arabia acknowledged that Khashoggi was killed in the consulate premises in what the country's then Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir had described as a "rogue operation".

UN's special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Agnes Callamard, leading the investigations into Khashoggi's death, had confirmed that evidence showed the latter to be a victim of "a brutal and premeditated killing, planned and perpetrated by officials of the state of Saudi Arabia".

According to the US intelligence agencies, the murder of Khashoggi was enacted upon orders by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.

However, Saudi Arabia repeatedly rejected all the allegations against its Crown Prince, adding that it is committed to bringing the perpetrators to justice. (ANI)